Gap year anyone?

Why is it that we encourage kids to take a gap year between education and starting their career? To get some life experience, learn about themselves and potentially have some fun before they settle into a routine. Funny given this is a time in life when they have barely worked or saved money to take such a long time off.

What about having a mid-life gap year? Couldn’t we all do with time off to work out what we want to do with our careers or what needs to happen to ensure we don’t burn out? The answer is most definitely yes! However, it’s not easy or particularly realistic at this stage in our lives. With cost of living as it is, it can be next to impossible to see a way to get any time to ourselves.

I’ve just finished listening to Tim Tamashiro’s book How to Ikigai which talks about finding your passion and purpose in life. He had a wonderful career with CBS Canada that he chose to leave after 10 years when we started to feel stale. After talking with his wife, they decided they could afford for him to take a year off to try to find his Ikigai (a Japanese concept that means your reason for being).

His book is a thought-provoking exploration of the concept of Ikigai, which asks you to consider these four things:

1) What you love

2) What you’re good at

3) What the world needs

4) What you can get paid for

He also talks about the concepts of half Ikigai where you find what you love and are good at and start practicing these to enhance your life and happiness, recognising that not everyone is in a position to make a living from what they love. So, while I continue to dream about taking a year off, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

It’s far too easy to focus on being busy and then falling in a heap in front of technology to wind down. Instead, I’m going to spend that time reading and talking to people about what I love and enjoy. Maybe you should too.

Listen to his Ted Talk: (Tim Tamashiro: How to Ikigai | TED Talk)